A former heroin addict who lured a 70-year-old woman into a Basildon alleyway before robbing her has had her sentence slashed at London's appeal court.

Lynette Saiche, 25, from Whitmore Court, Basildon, targeted Olive Richardson as she walked through the town on July 31, 2001, calling to her from the other side of the street and pretending she needed help.

Mrs Richardson was then lured into a nearby alleyway where Saiche struck her on the head before making off with her handbag.

Judge Simon Fawcus said: "This was a serious assault and its purpose was so that she could snatch her handbag.

"That was for the purpose of buying heroin."

Saiche had been handed a four-and-a-half year jail term last June for the robbery. The sentence was ordered to run consecutively with a three-and-a-half year term she was already serving for another robbery - making her total sentence eight years.

At the time His Honour Judge Phillip Clegg said he was prepared to show some leniency after hearing that Saiche had been pressured into carrying out the robbery by her ex-boyfriend, himself a heroin addict.

Before Judge Clegg handed her that sentence Saiche said she was attending a drug rehabilitation unit to beat her drug problem and was desperate to start a new life with her children, aged two and six.

At the hearing Saiche's lawyers appealed on the grounds that the overall term was too long and the Appeal Court substituted a total six-year sentence.

Judge Fawcus, sitting with Lord Justice Scott Baker and Mr Justice Sachs, said it had been an "unpleasant assault" but the overall jail term was still excessive.

Published Thursday, February 6, 2003

Brought to you by the Evening Echo